Mark Clague, Ph.D. (University of Michigan) is writing an ongoing series of fascinating essays on common misunderstanding surrounding “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Click on the table of contents below or jump in with Mythconception #1 and work your way through. If you have questions or confusions about the song, post your questions here and it may be the subject of a future post.
Current Essays
(note that all these statements are misunderstandings, rather than expressions of fact!)
- Intro: Correcting the Anthem Story
- #1 Key was held prisoner on a British ship during the Battle of Baltimore
- #2 Key wrote the anthem on the back of an envelope
- #3 Key wrote a “poem” later set to music by someone else
- #4 Key’s Banner is based on a bawdy old English drinking song
- #5 The Banner as baseball ritual begins with Babe Ruth & the 1918 World Series
- #6 Congress made Key’s Banner the U.S. National Anthem
- #7 An Official Version of “The Star-Spangled Banner” Exists
- #8 Igor Stravinsky’s Mug Shot & the Illegal Anthem